Clothes-drier



2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(No Model.)

0. M. SHANNON.

CLOTHES DRIER.

No. 380,949. Patented Apr. 10, 18 88.

2 SheetsSh1eet 2.

(No Model.)

0. M. SHANNON.

CLOTHES DRIER.

No. 380.949/ PatentedA pr. 10, 1888.

N. F'Ums, Hwlwlilimgnplmr, Washington. ac

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OSOARllI. SHANNON, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

@LGT'l-l ES=DRlER.

EJPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 380,949. dated April 10*, 1888.

Application filed July 6, 1886. Serial No. 207,160. (No model.)

To aZi whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, OSCAR M. SHANNON, of

Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Clothes Driers; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to that class of clothesdricrs either forlaundries or for domestic use which comprises a drying closet or chamber, devices for suspending the clothes in the upper part of the closet, and means for heating the air within the closet. Heretofore the heating devices in this class of clothes-drying apparatus have commonly consisted of a stove or other firechamber having dues for the combustion products,which flues pass through the lower part of the closet.

The principal feature of novelty in my invention consists in the employment as the heating agency of gas-flames burning in the same air-space within the closet in which the clothing is suspended, whereby the hot products of combustion rising from the flames come directly into contact with the clothing. By this means it is found that heat is much more economically used and that the circulation of drying-air through the closetis greatly increased, so that as a result clothes may be dried more than thrice as rapidly as by the indirect use of heat heretofore relied on in this class of laundry-driers. It is also found that in the use-of gas-flames burning in the same air-space with the clothing the yellowing or discolor-at ion of the clothes observed in such driers when the more slowly acting indirect means ofheating are employed is wholly avoided, and that the clothes, while much more rapidly and satisfactorily dried,are also much whiter. By reason of its more rapid work, moreover, a drier of given capacity containing my improvement may be made much smaller than heretofore, so that flats, tenements, and residences which contain no room for the old style of drier may find space for those having this improvement, and the usefulness of such apparatus becomes thus more generally available.

The drier herein shown as embodying my invention comprises a closet provided in its upper part with the usual sliding racks from which the clothing is suspended, and having at its lower part a series of pipes for gas or analogous combustible arranged horizontally and provided with burners or perforations for the escape of the gas therefrom. The several pipes are arranged side by side and parallel with each other, and, as a separate improvement, a plate or hood is placed over each pipe or row of burners in position to deflect and more thoroughly mix the products of combustion therefrom. These deflectors are also shown in such position that the flames impinge upon their lower surfaces, thereby highly heating the same and insuring the more complete and thorough heating of the air supplied to the closet from below and rising between the edges of said deflector. Suitable openings are provided at the bottom of the closet for the inflow of air beneath the burners or pipes, and one or more openings are provided. at the top of the closet for the exit of the air with its burden of moisture taken from the clothes. As an additional improvement, the several gas pipes or tubes of the closet are shown as being connected with a single supply-pipe containing an injector or inspirating device constructed to deliver an admixture of air and gas to the burners, whereby in the use of the ordinary illuminatinggas supplied to residences hotter, blue, and smokeless flames are produced.

My invention may be more readily understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of a drier constructed in accordance with my invention, portions of the exterior walls being broken away to show the interior construction thereof. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section through the drier shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a sectional plan View of the same, taken upon line yy of Fig. 2. Fig. 4c is a transverse vertical section taken upon line :0 as of Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a detail sectional View taken through the gas-supply pipe upon line m m of Fig. 3, illustrating the injecting device for producing an admixture of air and gas. Fig. {3 is a detail section taken upon the line 00 as of Fig. Fig. 7 is a side elevation, with parts in section, of one of the horizontal bars of a drying-rack, show- ICO ing a supplemental bar attached thereto for holding small articles. Fig. 8 is a vertical section taken upon line as x of Fig. 7.

As illustrated in the said drawings, A A indicate the side walls, A the end walls, and A the top,of a drying-chamber, and B B are the several drying-racks located in the upper part of said chamber. Said racks are, as shown, constructed, in the usual manner,with horizonbars B B and vertical end pieces, B B and are provided with rollers b b, by which they are sustained upon the tracks B B at the top of the chamber, said racks being adapted to slide inwardly and outwardly through openings a in the end wall, A, of the said chamber in a familiar manner.

0 O are a series of horizontal transverselyarranged pipes or tubes connected at one side of the drier with a supply-tube, O, and preferably connected at their opposite end with a supporting tube or rod, 0 The pipes may be sustained in any suitable manner in the lower part of the drying-chamber, a simple and convenient construction for this purpose being herein shown, in which said pipes are upheld from the floor upon which the drier rests by means of legs or standards 0 c engaging the longitudinal pipes O 0 The pipes C may be constructed to form or may be provided with any suitable burners to afford a series of gasflames throughout their length, said pipes being, as herein shown, provided with simple perforations for this purpose. To enable the flow of gas to the pipe 0 from the pipe 0 to be readily controlled, as desired, a series of stopcocks, c, are employed, which are located at or near the points of connection between the said pipes O 0, access being afforded to the stop-cocks by means of doors in the side wall of the drying-chamber, such as indicated at A in Fig. 1.

DD are a series of plates located one over each of the several burner-pipes 0, said plates being, as herein shown, of curved form in cross-section and supported with their convex sides uppermost by means of arms d from the said burner-pipes.

The gas is supplied to the tube 0 by means of a pipe, 0 connected with the service-pipes 0f the house, and provision is made for producing an admixture of atmospheric air with the gas by the employment of an injecting device, E, herein shown as located at the junction of the vertical part of the pipe (3 with the horizontal tube 0. Said injecting device is made, in the usual manner, with a nozzle, 6, connected with the gas-supply pipe 0 and with a funnel or cup shaped prolongation, E, upon the said tube 0. This device operates in a familiar manner to induce a current of atmospheric air into the tube 0 along with the gas making its exit under pressure from the nozzle 6. The burning of an admixture of air and gas in the drier has awell-understood ad vantage of affording a smokeless flame having little illuminating but great heating effect.

As a separate improvement, the dryingchamber constructed with gas-burners in its lower part, as above described, is provided with a perforated or wire-cloth diaphragm or partition, F, located over the said burner to prevent possible contact of the clothing placed in the drier with the flames or with the heatdeflectors, if present.

Access of air to the drier is provided by any suitable air-inlet openings at the bottom of the drying chamber, openings A A at the lower margins of the walls A A being herein shown as employed for this purpose. The air entering said openings is heated by contact with the gas-flames, and also by passing over the plates D, when the latter are used, and then rises rapidly with the products of combustion into direct contact with the articles hung in the up per part of the chamber and passes out through a suitable exit-duct, G.

In the particular construction herein illustrated the drying-closet is built in the corner of the room and adjacent to a chimney or a ventilating-flue, G, and the exit-aperture G is formed by a short pipe extending through the wall of the closet and communicating with the said flue.

Besides the advantages of my improvement already mentioned-to wit, the great saving of heat and the greatly higher efficiency attained as a result of passing the products of combustion directly through the interior of the closet and in contact with the clothingthis construction has also the additional advantage ofsaving the room and avoiding the expense attendant upon the use of other means of heating having flues for conveying off the products of combustion separate from the airspace in which the clothing is hung.

The walls A A A of the dryingchamber shown are, as an improved construction, made with an outer thickness, a, of wood, provided with an inner lining, a", of sheet metalsuch as zincsupported from the outer thickness, at, by means of blocks a so as to form air-spaces to prevent the escape of heat from the drier. The air-spaces thus formed are left open at the lower margins of the chamber-walls, so as to allow the influx to said spaces of a portion of the air passing inwardly through the openings A* A at the bottom of the chamber, and the said air-spaces communicate at the top of the drier with the exit-duct G, which latter is preferably extended upwardly to a poi nt upon a level with the outer thickness, at, of the top wall, A so that direct communication is had between the air space over the top of the chamber'and the said duct, as clearly shown in Fig. 2.

By providing the walls of the drier with airspaces communicating with an exit air-duct and open at the bottom of the drier, as described, a continuous current of air is obviously obtained through the said air-spaces, whereby the air which becomes heated in the said spaces is carried away and replaced by cooler air, thus preventing extreme heating of the outer wall of the drier and the transmission of heat therefrom to the apartment in which the drier is placed.

In Figs. 7 and 8 I have illustrated a supplemental bar which is located below the horizontal bar or bars of the clothes rack in a drier, and is adapted to sustain a number of collars and cuffs or other small articles to be dried beneath the main bars of the rack without in terfering with the drying of the articles hung upon said main bars. The said supplemental bar, as indicated by H, Figs. 7 and 8, is con nected with the main horizontal bar 13' of the rack by means of links I, pivoted at their op posite ends to the said bars H and B. The said links I are made with flat side faces, t, at their ends, which are pivoted to the bar B, and upon said bar are secured leafsprings J J, adapted to rest at their free ends against the said flat faces z of the links when the bars are folded upwardly against the bar B, so as to hold the said bar H in this position, while at the same time allowing it to be readily thrown downwardly away from said bar for placing articles upon and taking them from said bar H. The object of this construction in the means for supporting the bar H is to enable the small articles placed thereon to be clamped against the under surface of the bar B, so as to hold said smaller articles from displacement in placing larger articles upon and removing them from the main bars B.

In the particular construction illustrated the links I are inserted in recesses l3, formed in the lower edge of the bar B, and the springs I are also located in said recesses, thereby preventing contact of the articles placed upon the said bar B with the springs and adjacent parts. It will of course be understood that the same results of sustaining the bar H against the main rack-bar B may be obtained by other fastening devices, and that in case a spring is used the spring maybe arranged otherwise than in the particular manner herein shown. A spring acting upon a flat face upon the link is, however, preferred, and is herein specifically claimed as part of my invention.

I claim as my invention- 1. The combination, with a clothes-drying closet provided with an airinlet at or near the bottom and with a suitable air-outlet, of a series of horizontally-sliding clothes-racks occupying the upper part of the closet, a series of horizontal gas-pipes arranged transversely in the lower part of the closet and provided with rows of burners giving their flames in the same air-space in which the clothes are suspended, and a perforated guard extending horizontally across the closet above the gasburncrs and below the clothes racks, substantially as described.

2. The combination, with a clothes-drying closet provided with a bottom air inlet and l with a suitable airoutlet, of a series of horizontally-sliding clothes racks occupying the upper part of the closet, a series of horizontal gas pipes arranged transversely in the lower part of the closet and provided with rows of burners giving their flames in the same airspace in which the clothingis suspended, a series of deflecting-plates located severally over the rows of burners and havingspaces between them, and a stationary perforated guard located above the deflecting-plates and below the clothes-racks, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with a clothes-drying closet provided with an air-inlet at or near the bottom and with a suitable air-outlet, of horizontally-sliding clothes-racks occupying the upper part of the closet, a series of 110th zontal gas-pipes in the lower part of the closet, provided with rows of burners giving thenflames in the same air-space in which the clothes are suspended, a device for mixing atmospheric air with the gas entering the gaspipes within the closet, and a perforated guard extending horizontally across the closet above the gasburners and below the clothes-racks, substantially as described.

4. A clothes-drying closet through which heated air circulates, provided with double walls having air-passages therein open at the bottom to the external air of the room in which the closet is located, in combination with an outlet duct or flue leading out of the room and in separate communication with both the interior of the closet and the air-passage ofthe Walls, whereby a movement of air from outside the closet through the wall-space is induced to prevent radiation of heat from the closet into the room, and whereby, also, the heated air from both the interior of the closet and the airspace is conducted outof the room, substantially as described.

5. The combination, with a longitudinallysliding rack of a clothes-drying closet, of a supplemental bar movably sustained beneath one of the main bars of the rack, and devices, substantially as described, for holding said supplemental bar against the main bar, substantially as described.

6. The combination, with a longitudinallysliding rack ofa clothes-drying closet, ofa supplemental bar suspended beneath one of the main bars of said rack, links pivotally connecting the said supplemental bar with the raek-bar and permitting movement of the suspended bar in the planeof the rackbar, and a device or devices for supporting said supplemental bar in an elevated position against said rack-bar, substantially as described.

7. The combination, with a longitudinallysliding rack of a clothes-drying closet, of a supplemental bar located beneath one of the bars of said rack, links pivotally connecting the supplemental bar with the rack-bar, and a spring acting upon one of said links and an ranged to hold the supplemental bar in its elevated position, substantially as described.

I In testimony thatI claim the foregoing as my invention I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

Witnesses: OSGAI M. SHANNON.

G. CLARENCE PooLE, CHARLES E. FISHER. 

